[The Epoch Times, March 16, 2022](The Epoch Times reporter Lin Yan comprehensive report) Sullivan and Yang Jiechi held a marathon meeting on Monday, and there was no joint statement after the meeting. What is rare is that this time the Chinese side released two announcements at the same time and released multiple signals.
On Monday (March 14), US National Security Adviser Sullivan and China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi held a seven-hour meeting in Rome, Italy. The White House issued a notice for the meeting, saying that the meeting between Sullivan and Yang Jiechi was a follow-up to the video conference held by President Biden and President Xi Jinping on November 15, 2021.
The U.S. circular said Sullivan raised a series of U.S.-China relations issues and discussed Russia’s war against Ukraine extensively. The announcement also said the two sides emphasized the importance of maintaining open channels of communication between the U.S. and China.
Observers say that notices tend to be shorter and more problematic.
After the meeting, U.S. officials told a briefing that the meeting was “intense” and that the two sides were “very candid”, reflecting the “seriousness” of the current events.
At the same time, officials also stressed that the meeting had been arranged a long time ago, was not aimed at the Ukraine incident, and covered other issues, including North Korea, Taiwan and strained bilateral relations.
It was the first face-to-face meeting between senior U.S. and Chinese officials since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. There is growing concern in the West that instead of condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Beijing may help Moscow evade Western sanctions.
Judging from the White House announcement, the U.S. discussion focused on the Russian-Ukrainian war. According to Reuters, a senior administration official told the media after the meeting between U.S. and Chinese officials, “I just want to reiterate that we do have a deep concern that China (China) is standing with Russia at this time, National Security Adviser (Sullivan) Directly addressed those concerns and the potential impact and consequences of certain actions.”
The official added that Sullivan described to Yang Jiechi that “the unity of the United States and its allies and partners … makes Russia pay for its actions.”
Hours before the meeting, the Financial Times and The New York Times, among others, quoted U.S. officials as saying Russia had asked Beijing for military equipment and economic aid. During the talks, the Financial Times again quoted officials familiar with U.S. diplomatic cables as saying that the U.S. had told allies that Beijing had signaled its willingness to provide Russia with military assistance to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
China’s rare double announcement highlights its stance on Taiwan
The Chinese side issued the announcement later than the U.S. side, and it was rare to issue two announcements about the same meeting. One was “Yang Jiechi held a meeting with Sullivan, the National Security Assistant to the President of the United States“, which mentioned Taiwan, Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong in a large amount of space. One is “Yang Jiechi clarifies his position on the situation in Ukraine”, which is consistent with the official announcement of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the past.
Yang Jiechi said in a notice concerning the Taiwan issue that China requires the US to recognize the high sensitivity of the Taiwan issue and not to go further and further down the very dangerous road.
The CCP calls Taiwan a part of it, claiming it will not give up force to retake it. But Taiwan says the CCP has never ruled Taiwan for a day, and only the people of Taiwan can choose their future.
Regarding this meeting, the spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed in advance that China and the United States have been in touch on this matter since the end of 2021, and have been in constant communication with the meeting, focusing on implementing the important consensus reached at the China-US summit video conference in November. This statement is consistent with the US side, but the specific details are very different.
The best reference to Beijing’s change in language is its own announcements of previous meetings. In October 2021, Yang Jiechi and Sullivan will meet in Zurich, Switzerland.
Compared with the Chinese announcements in March 2022 and October 2021 (announcement at 1 o’clock in March, 2 o’clock in the announcement, and this in October), there are several major differences. First, the two sides in this announcement differed greatly in their positions. The October circular said the two sides had a “comprehensive, candid and in-depth exchange of views”, and the March circular changed to “candid, in-depth and constructive communication”.
People familiar with the terminology of the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the word “constructive” represents a very different position and cannot be discussed.
Second, in the previous announcement, both sides emphasized “avoiding conflict and confrontation.” The latest announcement only mentioned that China said that it should “avoid conflict and confrontation.”
Third, the last announcement summed up China’s position on Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet in one sentence, only 70 words. This time the notice is longer, with 419 words, of which the Taiwan part accounts for 60% of the text.
Why does the CCP single out the Taiwan issue? Financial Times columnist Gideon Rachman analyzes how Beijing can complete a more complex sea route to Taiwan if the experienced Russian military cannot easily win a land invasion of Ukraine Invasion?
He said that the Taiwanese will definitely fight back against the CCP’s invasion, then the CCP will have to accept serious casualties. In addition, while U.S. President Biden has repeatedly ruled out a war for Ukraine, he has said that the U.S. will defend Taiwan.
The CCP’s position on the situation in Russia and Ukraine fears the West’s secondary sanctions
Another announcement of the Chinese Communist Party on the situation in Ukraine is basically the same as the previous statement of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On the one hand, it presents itself as a neutral party to the conflict, which advocates maintaining Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and on the other hand, it also understands Russia’s security concerns arising from the expansion of NATO in Europe.
Beijing has found itself increasingly isolated from the world since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, shortly after Xi and Putin declared a friendship without boundaries in early February. China has avoided calling Russia’s actions an invasion, with Foreign Minister Wang Yi last week calling Russia its most important strategic partner.
However, when Wang Yi spoke with Spanish Foreign Minister Alvarez on the 14th, he made it clear that Beijing “doesn’t want the sanctions to affect China.”
The Wall Street Journal revealed that Chinese foreign policy advisers said that although the scale of Russia’s attack on Ukraine has unnerved Chinese leaders, Xi will continue to maintain relations with Putin because Beijing sees little chance of improving relations with the United States. And Russia needs to be a partner, even if it’s not an outright ally.
But the CCP does not want itself to be implicated by Russia and subject to joint sanctions by the West.
According to the analysis by Rahman of the Financial Times, according to the current round of Western sanctions against Russia, even China, which has the world‘s largest foreign exchange reserves, will find that it may not be able to use the funds in its strategic reserves to wage war overnight. In addition, China is barely self-sufficient in energy or food, and if the U.S. Navy cuts off key shipping lanes such as Malacca, it could block China.
Also worrying for China is the fact that the European Union, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, South Korea, Japan and Singapore have all joined financial sanctions against Russia, a fact that forms a united front among advanced economies.
Rahman said that if the CCP often used numbers to compare its strength with the United States, now it is not only compared with the United States, but also with the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada and Australia, and the CCP will appear weak.
“The Chinese feel very threatening at the same time as the United States and its allies have unleashed a new arsenal of economic sanctions on Russia,” he wrote.
Zeng Ruisheng, director of the China Institute at SOAS, University of London, told the Guardian that China under Xi Jinping may give all the support to help Putin, but it will not allow itself to be subject to secondary sanctions, despite their The friendship agreement between the two said it was “rock solid” and “endless”.
Responsible editor: Lin Yan#